Another nail in the coffin...

Readers are aware that I have not shied away from presenting refutations of the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) when I run into them (or am run over by them). It's time to give Master Eric Schiller credit (again) for both writing about the Jerome Gambit and providing a reasonable refutation for one of the main lines.

His Unorthodox Chess Openings (1998, 2002), Gambit Chess Openings (2002) and Survive & Beat Annoying Chess Openings (2003) have the following line:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7

This rather extravagant gambit is included by popular request, as the Internet newsgroup rec.games.chess.analysis had quite a bit of discussion on it in the summer of 1997 and several of the participants asked me to include it. White sacrifices a piece just to draw the enemy king into the game... (Unorthodox Chess Openings)

5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+

This too ambitious gambit has a following in some gambit circles, but it is totally unsound and Black has very little cause for concern. Just play aggressively and don't fall into passive cowardice. (Survive & Beat Annoying Chess Openings)

6...Ke6 7.f4

White will win back one of the sacrificed pieces. Black should react calmly be developing and protecting the king. It is useful to keep in mind that for an attack to succeed the attacker usually requires greater force than that which defends the king. Here the Black king is surrounded by pieces, and White has only the queen and a pair of pawns. The Black king can retreat to e7, but this would confine the Black queen. Therefore the correct move suggests itself. (Unorthodox Chess Openings 2)

7...Qf6! 8.Nc3 Ne7 9.Rf1 g6 10.Qh3+ Ng4 11.Qxg4+ Kf7

Black can easily defend with ...Rf8 and ...Kg8, and can also move the d-pawn, attacking the enemy queen. (Gambit Chess Openings)